Searching for Ultralight Dark Matter with Optical Cavities

Geraci, Andrew; Bradley, Colin; Gao, Dongfeng; Weinstein, Jonathan D.; Derevianko, Andrei

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.123.031304

Cited by 68 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In [21], using dynamical decoupling with trapped ions resulted in a bound on scalar particle masses in the range m φ ∼ 10 −11 − 10 −10 eV (roughly 1 − 10 kHz oscillation frequency) with accuracy of 1 : 10 13−14 for both δm e / m e and δα/α . The bound was obtained via atom-cavity comparison [31], where for δm e / m e , this method can only be effectively used for frequencies 10 kHz [20]. These bounds can be improved by roughly two orders of magnitude and can cover the range up to 10 MHz.…”

Section: Coherent Dark Matter Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relaxion stars and their detection via atomic physics

et al. 2020

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The cosmological relaxion can address the hierarchy problem, while its coherent oscillations can constitute dark matter in the present universe. We consider the possibility that the relaxion forms gravitationally bound objects that we denote as relaxion stars. The density of these stars would be higher than that of the local dark matter density, resulting in enhanced signals in table-top detectors, among others. Furthermore, we raise the possibility that these objects may be trapped by an external gravitational potential, such as that of the Earth or the Sun. This leads to formation of relaxion halos of even greater density. We discuss several interesting implications of relaxion halos, as well as detection strategies to probe them. I. INTRODUCTIONResolving the nature of the dark matter (DM) is one of the most fundamental questions in modern physics [1]. Although particle DM at the electroweak scale is a highly motivated solution [2], no discovery of such DM was made to date, either directly [3-5], indirectly [6] or at the LHC [7]. Another intriguing possibility is that of a cold, ultra-light, DM field, coherently oscillating to account for the observed DM density. We consider a class of models where a light scalar particle composes the DM. A well-motivated example is the relaxion, where even a minimal model that addresses the hierarchy problem [8] may lead to the right relic abundance in a manner similar to axion models, however geared with a dynamical misalignment mechanism [9] for relaxion masses roughly above 10 −11 eV. Due to spontaneous CP violation, the relaxion mixes with the Higgs, and, as a result, acquires both pseudoscalar and scalar couplings to the Standard Model (SM) fields [10,11] (this effect could be suppressed in particle-production-based models [12]). The latter distinguishes the relaxion from axion dark matter, which has only pseudoscalar couplings, and where the same property of generation of CP violation was shown to lead to a solution of the strong CP problem [13] as well as potentially generating the cosmological baryon asymmetry [14].A striking consequence of the relaxion-Higgs mixing is that, as the relaxion forms a classical oscillating DM background, all basic constants of nature effectively vary with time since they all depend on the Higgs vacuum expectation value [9]. (For earlier discussion in the context of dilaton DM see [15][16][17].) There are active experimental efforts searching for this form of scalar DM (e.g. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]). Despite the unprecedented accuracy achieved by the various searches, none of the current experiments reach the sensitivity required to probe physically motivated models. Furthermore, the resulting sensitivity in the region of our main interest, characterised by oscillation frequencies above the Hz level, is weaker than that of the probes related to fifth-force searches and equivalence-principle tests (see e.g. [10, 15-17, 20, 21, 24-27]).In this paper, we demonstrate that if the scalar DM forms a self-gravitating compact object, usually ...

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Section: Coherent Dark Matter Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are active experimental efforts searching for this form of scalar DM (e.g. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]). Despite the unprecedented accuracy achieved by the various searches, none of the current experiments reach the sensitivity required to probe physically motivated models.…”

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confidence: 99%

Relaxion stars and their detection via atomic physics

et al. 2020

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“…where E Pl is the Planck energy (E Pl = c 5 /G) [46]. The couplings d me , d e are dimensionless dilatoncoupling coefficients [36,37,58], with a natural parameter range defined by the inequality [42]…”

Section: Appendix A: Scalar Dm Couplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for Scalar Dark Matter with Compact Mechanical Resonators

et al. 2020

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Ultralight scalars are an interesting dark matter candidate which may produce a mechanical signal by modulating the Bohr radius. Recently it has been proposed to search for this signal using resonant-mass antennae. Here, we extend that approach to a new class of existing and near term compact (gram to kilogram mass) acoustic resonators composed of superfluid helium or single crystal materials, producing displacements that are accessible with opto-or electromechanical readout techniques. We find that a large unprobed parameter space can be accessed using ultra-high-Q, cryogenically-cooled, cm-scale mechanical resonators operating at 100 Hz to 100 MHz frequencies, corresponding to 10 −12 − 10 −6 eV scalar mass range.

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“…This is the time τ cav, 2 during which the length L may adjust to the changing value of the atomic length scale r 0 . We can estimate τ cav, 2 in terms of the speed of sound in the material

v_{s}

, [ 23 ]

τ_{cav, 2} \approx L / v_{s}

. If the finesse is

F < c / v_{s}

, then

τ_{normalcav} = τ_{cav, 2} > τ_{cav, 1}

.…”

Section: Experimental Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast Apparent Oscillations of Fundamental Constants

et al. 2020

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Precision spectroscopy of atoms and molecules allows one to search for and to put stringent limits on the variation of fundamental constants. These experiments are typically interpreted in terms of variations of the fine structure constant and the electron-to-proton mass ratio = m e ∕m p . Atomic spectroscopy is usually less sensitive to other fundamental constants, unless the hyperfine structure of atomic levels is studied. However, the number of possible dimensionless constants increases when allowed for fast variations of the constants, where "fast" is determined by the time scale of the response of the studied species or experimental apparatus used. In this case, the relevant dimensionless quantity is, for example, the ratio m e ∕⟨m e ⟩ and ⟨m e ⟩ is the time average. In this sense, one may say that the experimental signal depends on the variation of dimensionful constants (m e in this example).

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Searching for Ultralight Dark Matter with Optical Cavities

Cited by 68 publications

References 38 publications

Relaxion stars and their detection via atomic physics

Relaxion stars and their detection via atomic physics

Searching for Scalar Dark Matter with Compact Mechanical Resonators

Fast Apparent Oscillations of Fundamental Constants

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